The Jungle Gym Affair
by Mimiko
Summary: [IK] Inu-Yasha and Kagome's nightly meetings in the park have taken them beyond their "world between worlds" into hiding. But the secrets they're keeping are no longer their own...
1. Prologue

The night was colder than usual, making the air around Kagome's bare arms seem to bite. She cursed as she wrapped her arms around herself, trying to keep warm. She'd rushed out of her house in such a fit she didn't even notice she had no jacket on. She wore nothing but a flimsy camisole top and a thin pair of jeans. The quicker she got to the park, the better.

The Higurashi family was one of the wealthiest families in the city, and lived in one of the nicer neighborhoods, though they were still within walking distance of the park that the 'poor' children had went to, which marked the border between the classes in her city. But now, it was rare to find another soul in the park since a better one had been built a short ways away.

She'd been running to that park since she was 10, knowing it was one of the few places her parents wouldn't think to look for her. She'd sometimes spend hours on the swings, singing along with the music from her ever-present walkman when no one was around.

This time, however, when Kagome reached the park, there was already someone there. She didn't mind though, as long as all the swings weren't taken, and since this boy had taken a seat on the near-by jungle gym, she didn't care.

As she took her place in a swing, she glanced over at him, and their eyes met. It was dark, but she got enough illumination from the street lamps to tell that his eyes were a pale violet, lighter than her own blue-grey irises. She began the back and forth motions, to pass the time and take her mind off of the stinging cold.

They sat in silence for several minutes, until Kagome finally turned to him and spoke.

"So..what are you here for?"

He looked over at her, as if debating whether or not to grace her with the sound of his voice before scoffing, "Keh, not that it's any of your business, but I'm waiting for a party to end so I can go home."

"Ah." she said, unsure on how to answer that, but wanting to continue talking to him.

"What about you?" he asked, turning his head away from her as if he didn't care about her answer, but glancing at her from the corner of his eyes.

"Ah. I got upset and ran here from home," she said, looking down at her feet as they skimmed the surface of the playground gravel, "I come here almost every night. It's relaxing...So, what's your name?"

"It's Inu-Yasha...you?"

"Kagome." she stated simply - if he didn't give a last name, she was happy to follow his lead and not offer hers.

He looked up at the sky, before jumping off of the play structure.

"Pretty name. I've gotta go now.." he looked at her, like he wanted to say something else, but wasn't sure how.

"Seeya," she said off-handedly, but hoping he'd catch the meaning behind it.

He grinned and walked off. She followed his back with her eyes until he'd gone over a hill, and sighed. Being near him had calmed her down, and now that he was gone, she didn't see much sense in staying. She pushed herself out of the swing and headed home.

  


The next night, she opened her window and jumped out, this time with a jacket on, and began her trek to the park. As she came through the opening of trees that led her to the swings and the jungle gym, she saw the boy from before. He was on the jungle gym again, but this time he was hanging upside down from the top, causing his shirt to fall down to his chin, giving her a great view of his chest as she came closer. He was on the thin side, but he was definitely not scrawny. The muscles spoke for themselves.

"Uh, hello again Inu-Yasha," she said, stopping at her swing and debating on whether or not to sit in it, or brave jumping up next to him on the jungle gym.

"Oh, hey, back again Kagome?" he asked, swinging forward so that he sat atop the jungle gym, instead of hanging from it.

Kagome did a dance inside, her inner-voice squealing '_He remembered my name! He remembered my name!_' but she did her best to remain calm on the outside, "Well, yeah. Anywhere's better than home."

She decided that she looked stupid just standing there, and walked the few steps to sit in one of the triangular openings, and leaned back against it. She could see the skyline against the trees, and she could _feel_ Inu-Yasha's presence close to her.

Inu-Yasha looked down at the girl, who had unknowingly laid back and put her cleavage on display for him, and bit back a sigh. He knew from the direction she'd come from that she was from the 'upperclass' part of town, which was almost like another planet. A whole world that he was denied entry to. He spent the entirety of the night before, just thinking about her, and wondering about her. He'd spent the whole day wondering if she'd be at the park again. 

She was beautiful - he could tell that even in the dark. She had long black hair, and her skin wasn't quite pale but it wasn't quite tan. Her body was fit, but she obviously wasn't starving herself. Even her voice was beautiful, though he'd hardly heard her speak. He'd have to get her talking...

"So, when did you first come here?"

"When I was really little, I got lost when we were on an Easter egg hunt, and I wandered out here. It seemed magical, really. This place looks like something right out of a storybook. I kept coming back whenever I could, and I started running away here when I was 10, though I didn't start coming here a lot until I turned 15 last year."

"So you're 16 now?" he asked.

"Yeah, and you?" she turned her head up to him, awaiting his answer.

"I'm 17, but I'll be eighteen in a few weeks."

They continued talking, and continued their nightly ritual for days, until the days became weeks, and each day they learned more and more about each other. And each night, they'd part, each wanting to ask the question on the tip of their tongues. 

  


Kagome held him for the first time when he showed up late, sporting a black eye and a busted lip. She gasped, and jumped off the jungle gym, rushing over to him. She could see his wounds from the moonlight and the lamplight.

"Oh my goodness, Inu-Yasha are you okay?" she gingerly touched the skin, berating herself when he winced from the contact.

"Inu-Yasha, who did this to you?" she asked.

He didn't answer her, and instead kept walking to the jungle gym. Kagome reached her hand out and grabbed his shoulder. He jerked away, letting out a pained cry. He lowered to the ground, clutching at his shoulder.

"Oh my...Inu-Yasha, please tell me what happened." she dropped down to her knees in front of him, lightly pulling him into her arms. 

"It's my dad," he said simply.

Her eyes watered slightly, catching the light and reflecting it back. Inu-Yasha looked up at her, and wiped her tears away.

"God Kagome, don't cry," he said softly. 

"Inu-Yasha," she started to say, but she was silenced as he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her to him, ignoring the pain that came from the action.

"I don't care, just don't cry."

She smiled instead, and whispered, "You're my best friend Inu-Yasha."

He continued holding her, as he realized that she was his best friend too.

  


It was Inu-Yasha's eighteenth birthday about a week later, when Kagome came through the clearing and sat down next to him on the jungle gym.

"So," she said, assessing the look on his face, "I take it your birthday wasn't as grand as it could have been?"

He looked at her from the corner of his eye and smirked, "And I take it from your shivering you stormed out without grabbing a jacket, right?"

She rolled her eyes and huddled close to him, "Yeah well, I'll steal your warmth."

He wrapped an arm around her, bringing her closer, though he knew he was doing it more to feel her against him than to help her warm up.

"My birthday could have been a lot better, yeah." he answered, resting his head atop hers.

"I got you a gift, but I left it at home. I'll bring it to you tomorrow, okay?"

He waved her off with his free arm and sighed, "What does it matter? No one got me a gift today, I wouldn't expect one from you. I barely know you."

Kagome shot her head up, and twisted over a bit so that she was sitting in front of him, using one hand on his arm and the other on his leg to support her.

"You know me better than anyone Inu-Yasha," she said softly.

He looked down at her thoughtfully. It was true, he supposed. He didn't know her last name, or her address, but he knew more things about her than he did anyone else in his life, and the same was true for her about him.

She continued, "I mean, what is there about me that you _don't_ know?"

"Well, for starters, I don't even know your last name. I don't know who your best friends are, or where you live, or.."

"Higurashi," Kagome said, "I don't have any real best friends aside from you. I hang out with three girls named Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi, but I really can't stand being around them for too long - except for Ayumi, she's not so bad - and I live on 1351 North Prescott Circle. Anything else?"

He absorbed the information, piece by piece. He didn't know much about the Higurashi family, except that they had 'too much damned money' as his father put it, but he knew that she was a lot richer than he'd thought. He knew what else he wanted to ask, but he couldn't. He couldn't ask her.

"Nothing. There's nothing else."

She smiled gently at him, holding onto him tighter and moving her body closer, "Now, since no one else got you a gift I'll just have to give you something else until later."

He cocked an eyebrow at her, wondering what she could have hidden on herself to give him, but his question was answered as she placed a small peck on his lips. She pulled back quickly, and blushed, though it was dark and he could barely make it out.

They took in a breath for a split second, before joining their lips again. She moaned as he pulled her closer to him, loving the way his lips were moving against hers. He ran his hand down the length of her back, causing a shiver to course down her spine, arching her back even further into him. He'd been wanting to do this for too long. Too long entirely.

And when they came up for breath, they each gasped for air. She rested her cheek against his shoulder, so that her hair tickled the side of his neck, and she wanted so badly to just ask him.

But all she could say was, "I'll see you later?"

And he could only nod. 

  


And after that, the weeks turned into months, and before either of them knew it, they'd been having their meetings for three months. Sometimes they didn't even talk, opting instead to make out, or sometimes just sit together, enjoying the other one's presence.

And each night, they'd be there, not daring to miss it, because they just couldn't ask each other the question that had been burning in their minds and on the tip of their tongues since the first night they'd met.

  


It was on their three month anniversary of escaping their real life every night when Kagome came running through the clearing with tears in her eyes. She jumped onto the jungle gym, straight onto Inu-Yasha, knocking him back a bit with the force of her jump.

"Kagome, what's wrong?" he asked, patting her back awkwardly. 

He hated it when people cried, especially girls, and _especially_ Kagome. He'd only seen her do so one other time, and it was just for a few seconds when she'd found out his father hit him. He'd distracted her, though he knew that she worried about it constantly since. But this time, he had the feeling she was crying for herself, and he knew he couldn't just change the topic. He didn't want to either.

"I just, I just hate it at home. I hate it there. I'd give anything to just run away forever," she murmured against his neck.

He lifted her chin up, nuzzling her neck and her cheek, whispering softly to her to calm her down. She stopped crying fairly quickly, taking deeper breaths so that she could concentrate on Inu-Yasha. It was rare that he was so sweet. She'd learned he was an aggressive type, but she found that she didn't mind. She especially loved when he was gentle, because that meant he was entirely focused on making her happy at that moment.

She stretched her body upwards to him, for even though she sat straddling him, she was still a few inches shorter than he was, so she had to always work for a kiss. '_That just makes it sweeter when I get one_' she thought as she brushed her lips against his.

Their kisses almost always started off a lot more innocently than they finished, and this was no exception. Her hands secured themselves around his neck, and his found themselves at the base of her back inching lower and lower. She always felt like she was swimming when she kissed him. Or was it flying? It was as if she was no longer just herself, but herself and all of him. 

His lips trailed down from hers to her neck, and then lower, and lower. She threw her head back and arched into him as he simultaneously unbuttoned her blouse and kissed the exposed flesh as it appeared before him. She'd read many a scene like this in entirely too many V.C. Andrews books, but she didn't know it actually happened in the real world in the way that it happened in the books.

Her heart fluttered before beginning to beat almost painfully. It was as if Inu-Yasha was teasing her skin. She felt an aching pressure from her hardened nipples as he licked the side of her neck. She needed him to touch her.

She needed to touch him.

She wasn't exactly sure when or how her panties had came off, but she did remember fumbling with the button on Inu-Yasha's jeans as he yanked the zipper down. Her legs tightened around his as she rocked into him. Years of gymnastics and horseback riding had made his entry painless, and she felt nothing but pleasure.

She felt nothing but Inu-Yasha, as she wrapped herself all around him. For the first time in her life, Kagome felt something with all of her senses. She could taste his skin from where she was kissing him, and she could hear the sounds he made as he let go of reality. The sight of him, it was etched into her mind. She could even smell him - a mix of night air and some unnameable cologne. But most of all, she could feel him, pressed up against her, and buried deep within her. She felt every inch of him against her, and she held onto the feeling as she let out a whimper of need.

She could feel a ball inside of her contracting and making her feel as if she was being lifted upwards. Something inside of her was about to explode, and she wanted it. She needed it.

She felt the needing inside of her release, and rocked into it, gasping out when she felt it finally come to her. There weren't any white lights behind her eyelids, but there was a sudden rush of breath from her lungs, and an indescribable feeling that washed over her and took her to a different dimension.

Inu-Yasha's arms tightened around her as he approached his own orgasm, and the two of them came down from their high.

She looked up at him, trying to catch her breath, and he closed his eyes, trying to form words.

Kagome recovered first, and she finally asked what both of them had been wanting to since they first met.

"Will you...will you be here tomorrow?"

  


A/N: Ah! This is Mimi: O_O;

I cannot believe I wrote that, but I've been wanting to write it for months now. I'll leave it up to you guys to figure out what I used from personal experience. :P And you don't know HOW hard it was for me to describe the sounds Inu-Yasha was making. Pika suggested an uNF, but "She could taste his skin from where she was kissing him, and she could hear his universal noise of fucking" just doesn't sound so great....though it is amusing.

I kind of want to continue this - I have enough ideas and a basic plot, but I'm not sure if I will...hmm. We'll see.


	2. Chapter One

Kagome held her boyfriend in her arms, wondering what she was going to do. Inu-Yasha was in a state of confusion, as was she, but she knew it was much harder for him. His father had been murdered. He'd returned home from one of their evening meetings and found his father laying dead in the living room. The memories of finding his mother that same way had flooded him, and left him frozen in the doorway for a good five minutes.

The first thing he did was dial Kagome on her cell phone. She had just reached the gates of her family estate when the ring she had designated solely to Inu-Yasha went off from her purse.

"Inu-Yasha?" she answered, unsure why he was calling her so soon after they'd parted.

"Kagome..Kagome.." he couldn't say anything aside from that, but he didn't need to.

Kagome immediately turned around and took off toward his house. She'd been there a few times whenever his father wasn't around, but that was enough to have the place memorized. She ran faster than she ever had before, not knowing what could have happened to Inu-Yasha to make him sound so desperate.

At first she thought his father may have hit him, but if her calculations were right, Inu-Yasha had just gotten home. '_Maybe he got hurt on the way..._' she thought, as she picked up her speed. She was already out of the park that they would spend their nights in, and she'd entered the rather run down neighborhood on the other side.

Within seconds she was at Inu-Yasha's open door. The scene that greeted her took her breath away, and made her knees buckle. The furniture was turned over, and his living room was a mess. Inu-Yasha sat by the phone, staring blankly into space, and laying in the middle of the room, was Inu-Yasha's father, Naraku Akunohihi.

And he was dead.

There were bullet holes in the walls, and there was blood pouring out of what Kagome knew had to be several bullet wounds.

She ran to Inu-Yasha, taking the phone from his hands and hanging it up. She ran her fingers through his hair, and snapped him out of his trance.

"Kagome..." he clung to her, burying his head in her shoulder.

She let him cry, knowing he needed to. As he sobbed, she reached for the phone, and dialed 911, beginning to talk before the operator could even ask what her emergency was.

"I," she said, before looking around her and choking back her own sob, "I need to report a murder. My boyfriend, his father, he's dead! Someone's killed him! We're at 1244 Winter Lane. You have to come now!"

She slammed the phone back down on its base, and held Inu-Yasha. She'd never seen a dead body before. She hadn't even seen a crime scene. She closed her eyes and tried to block out the blood and the dead body laying only feet away from her.

The police arrived, questioning them, but it went by in such a blur, neither of them really remembered the questioning afterwards. Kagome made a note to bring Inu-Yasha in to the station with her the next day for a formal report, and to ask where he planned on staying tonight, but she shoved the memos to the back of her mind in favor of comforting her boyfriend.

Inu-Yasha was torn. He wanted to be happy. He was free. The man who had made his life a living hell was gone. But he was dead. _Dead_. Even Inu-Yasha could not be happy that a man had died, no matter how much he wished for it every day.

He remembered Naraku before he started drinking, but barely. Naraku had taken up the habit when his wife Izayoi died. Both of the men were devastated at her death, but Naraku took it harder than even Inu-Yasha had. He was only four at the time, and at first he thought she'd be coming back. By time he realized what death really was, his mother had been gone for quite some time. In that sense, he never got to mourn for his mother.

"They're both gone," he said, as he realized that he was now completely alone in the world.

Kagome wrapped her arms around his torso, and as if she'd read his mind she told him, "You're not alone Inu-Yasha. So don't think that for a minute."

He nodded, and put his normal smirk back on and let his hands wander down Kagome's back. She sighed and looked the boy in the eye.

"It's never too late to mourn Inu-Yasha." she said seriously.

She knew he was upset. He wasn't going to talk about it, or face it, but he would. He would have to. She pulled her arms back and stepped out of his hold.

"So, where are you staying tonight?"

"Ah, with my friend Miroku. He has an apartment downtown." he answered, reaching in his pocket to see if he had the keys to his car.

"Want me to come with you?" Kagome asked, not wanting to leave him just yet.

"Would you? Your parents wouldn't mind or anything?" he asked, looking at her unsurely. He didn't want her to get in trouble.

"Pssh. They're not even home. They'll be back tomorrow afternoon, and then they're taking Souta to Europe for a week. They're trying to 'nuture' his so called skills."

He grinned as he grabbed onto his car keys, and led her to his car. Kagome motioned one of the investigators over to the car with a wave of her hand.

"Hi! We're going to be staying downtown tonight. You need us at the station at five tomorrow, right?" she asked.

The man ran a shaky hand through his red hair, and Kagome could tell he was probably a rookie.

"Um, yeah. Five is good, that's what they said."

Kagome smiled at him, before opening the car door and jumping in. She fumbled around in the dark trying to buckle her seat belt, trying not to let her mind wander to other things. Lately, she'd been so afraid she was going to say something to Inu-Yasha that she wasn't really sure she should.

She remembered that she'd almost let it slip a month before when he'd ran into her at the business district.

-

"Hey Kagome!" he said, running up beside her.

She jumped up, managing to suppress a scream. She turned and saw her boyfriend standing beside her, grinning from ear to ear. She smacked him on the arm playfully, before putting her hands on her hips and glaring at him.

"And just what do you think you're doing sneaking up on me like that?" she asked, hoping that he wouldn't notice what really had her so upset.

"I was just hanging around down here taking my car for a test drive." he said defensively.

"Oh, cool! Now you can show it to me, right?" she asked hopefully.

Inu-Yasha had been talking about his car for a week, but had neglected to drive it to the park, for fear of waking his dad by starting the engine. Kagome had been curious to see what his new most prized possession looked like.

He displayed the attention-grabbing red coloured car to her with a sweep of his hand, and Kagome smirked at it, a habit she'd picked up from Inu-Yasha.

"So," she said, walking around it and looking it up and down, "I take it _you're_ the new one in my man's life. Hmm. You know, he's taken up valuable amounts of our time talking about you? How pretty you are, how fast you can go, how good you feel. Well, you don't look that special to _me_."

She giggled at herself, and Inu-Yasha grinned at her.

"Ya know Kagome, you're pretty at night, but you're even prettier in the daylight."

She blushed at the unexpected compliment, but she realized for the first time that this was in fact the first time the two of them had seen each other during the day. She took a closer look at him, and noted the things she couldn't quite make out in the dark.

"And you look happier," she said.

"Wanna go for a ride then? Or do you have to go back home?" he asked.

"I'm free for the whole day," she said, "so let's go!"

-

Kagome blushed as she remembered that they hadn't gone very far before she was giving him directions to her family's penthouse downtown. The crimson stain on her cheeks darkened when she remembered how they'd spent their time. 

She suppressed the thoughts that surfaced and focused instead on the road ahead of her. She wasn't sure where she was going. Inu-Yasha had mentioned in passing that he had some friends that rented an apartment downtown, and that he'd sometimes crash at their place when he needed to get away from home, and she supposed that one of them was the Miroku that he had mentioned earlier.

She was tired, but she knew that they'd probably arrive at Miroku's in minutes, and that she only had that much longer to go before she could sleep. She only had so much longer to go before she would be able to rest.

"Kagome? Kagome snap out of it, we're here." she heard Inu-Yasha whisper.

She looked up and saw herself in front of an fairly familiar apartment complex. She remembered driving past it with her father on a few occasions, watching the people on the balconies and their back patios, and wishing she could join them.

Inu-Yasha drove into the lot, before parking in front of one of the many buildings. The one he'd parked in front of was labeled with a large "04". He turned the car off, and unbuckled his seatbelt. She followed his lead, still in the trance she went into when she was half asleep and being brought to a new place.

She followed behind him, not having a clue which of the four doors she was expected to be going into. He walked up to '403' and knocked once before yanking a key out of his pocket and unlocking the door.

"Miroku? Sango? I'm staying at your place tonight." he shouted as he tossed his coat on one of the chairs.

A disgruntled male voice came from somewhere above her and yelled back down, "Then sleep on the couch as usual you ass."

"Aww, Miroku," Inu-Yasha said sarcastically, "you know, it's those kinds of comments that make me think you guys just don't love me. Besides, I can't take the couch, I've got a guest."

This time it was a female voice that screamed down, "A guest? Inu-Yasha, this is not a place to hide the bodies."

Kagome winced at how loud they were being, wondering if they were going to wake up any neighbors. Inu-Yasha noticed how she shifted and wrapped an arm around her.

"My little princess. So delicate. YO SANGO? WHY ARE YOU IN MIROKU'S ROOM?"

Inu-Yasha snickered as his girlfriend glared at him and punched him in the arm. When what sounded like an argument drifted down from upstairs, he grabbed Kagome's arm, and led her up the staircase with a grin.

There were two doors - one was open, revealing a bathroom, and the other was shut. Kagome assumed it was a bedroom, and when her boyfriend swung the door open she saw that she was right. What she _also_ saw was a young woman who looked to be about twenty or so, trying to untangle herself from a mass of sheets and a man of about twenty-three. And they were both naked. She let out a squeal and hid herself behind Inu-Yasha, not looking at the couple, though she was a bit curious.

But not curious enough to look at the two of them as they argued, unlike her brazen boyfriend, who stood laughing at the both of them.

"You two are such dorks," he said, before grabbing Kagome's hand and turning around again, "I'll be sleeping in your room then Sango."

She followed him out of the room, and couldn't help but give them a backward glance, and blushed out of relief when she saw they were both appropriately covered this time. Inu-Yasha was the first boy she'd ever seen naked, and that was just once. Their interludes at the park usually required keeping most of their clothes on in case they needed to part quickly - and that was in the dark. She'd only really gotten a good look at him when she spent the afternoon with him in the penthouse.

She blinked as she realized Inu-Yasha had gotten her down the stairs and into what appeared to be Sango's bedroom. It was neat - too neat. 

"Well," Inu-Yasha said, running his finger along a dresser, which was collecting dust, "I guess she's been sleeping with him for awhile. Aw, do you blush at everything Kagome? I never noticed that in the dark."

He advanced on her, letting his hand wander up her side, grinning as he watched her lean into him. She frowned though, and pushed back from him, looking up at him accusingly.

"Inu-Yasha, your dad just died. We can't have sex on the same night that your father died!"

He sighed, and pulled her back into him, wrapping his arms around her frame tightly, "I don't see why not. My father died the first time he hit me. He's been dead for years Kagome. So, let's get it on."

She rolled her eyes at him, and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Fine, you may be horny, but after all that blood, there's no way I could get in the mood," she said, walking past him and looking at the bed. 

It was a full, so there would be enough room for both her and Inu-Yasha to sleep on it comfortably. '_You could do a lot of stuff on there comfortably_' the perverted part of her mind that Inu-Yasha had caused to develop snickered. She resisted the urge to groan. She had lied to Inu-Yasha - she was entirely in the mood even as she spoke. But she didn't feel comfortable knowing that she would be having sex with her boyfriend not even an hour after finding his father dead. The thought freaked her out, but did nothing to subside the slight needing feeling she felt.

"So, what am I supposed to sleep in?" she asked.

Inu-Yasha looked thoughtful, before grinning, "Well, you're about Sango's size, but you've got bigger boobs, so any of her clothes would probably be too tight on you and you'd stretch them out. So you can wear one of my shirts."

He walked over to the closet and yanked out a top that looked like it was big even on him. He tossed it to Kagome and smirked.

"You know, come to think of it, I've never slept next to you before. Wouldn't it be fun to make love together and fall asleep in each other's arms?" he asked hopefully, while giving her a perverted look.

"Inu-Yasha, I never knew you were so damned horny," Kagome snickered as she peeled her t-shirt off and put his on quickly, not giving him a chance to let his stare linger on her partially exposed breasts.

"Yeah, I'm turning into a regular Miroku," he said, frowning at how quickly Kagome had gotten her shirt off.

"Eh? Miroku's a pervert?" she asked, unbuttoning her jeans and laying them down next to her shirt.

"Total pervert. I should warn you, he has a habit of letting his mind wander...and his hand."

"His hand?"

Inu-Yasha smirked, "Yeah, his hands. He gropes women. You want a demonstration?"

"That's okay Inu-Yasha, I get the gist of it."

Kagome pulled thick comforter down from the bed and crawled under it. She watched as Inu-Yasha threw his clothes off, not even putting them in a messy pile, but tossing them in different directions letting them lay wherever they fell.

"So, tell me more about your friends Inu-Yasha," she said, hoping to keep him on that topic.

'_I suppose it is a bit wrong to punish him for not being able to cope properly, but..._'

"Well," Inu-Yasha began, not letting the smirk leave his face as he told her about Miroku and Sango. He knew what she was trying to do. '_I won't be so easily deterred,_' he thought. He knew Kagome thought that he should deal with his father's death, but he realized he wasn't really sad. He'd never had a bond with Naraku, and he never really loved him. Besides, it was like Kagome said. He wasn't alone.

And so what if he was replacing any need to mourn with sex? He let his hand travel down Kagome's body and suppressed a snicker as she shivered. Didn't seem so bad to him.

-

The two of them didn't wake up until three the next afternoon. Kagome woke first, stretching a bit and glaring at Inu-Yasha for breaking her resolve the night before. '_I can resist you Inu-Yasha, but I can't deny you._' She looked around trying to find where he'd thrown the shirt she was wearing, but she couldn't find it. She sighed, before remembering that she'd put her clothes by the bed, and she could just re-wear them.

Inu-Yasha woke just in time to see her tugging her shirt back down. He was going to make a fuss at her for not letting him watch, but he had a better idea. He left his eyes closed, and controlled his breathing, knowing Kagome would think that he was still sleeping. Maybe he'd get something interesting from this...

Kagome slid back in bed next to him, and ran her fingers down the side of his face. He really did look so much different when it wasn't nighttime. He always seemed so much more guarded at night - probably because he _was_, after all...the environment was so much different when there was light shed upon it.

"You're so cute," she whispered, as he stuck out his bottom lip, only to scream when his eyes shot open and his lips had pulled into a feral grin.

"So are you," he said, snickering at his girlfriend who had obviously been shocked.

"Don't..EVER...do that again Inu-Yasha. NEVER!" she screamed, throwing a pillow at him.

"Oh," he said, grabbing the pillow and beginning to advance on her, "I don't think you want to start a pillow fight with me little girl."

Kagome grinned, already recovered from her scare, and grabbed another pillow, "Why, 'cause I don't want to see my boyfriend lose?"

"Because if you two don't tell us why you're here, and who she is, it's going to be two on two, and even Inu-Yasha can't beat Sango here at a pillow fight," Miroku said from the doorway, "I'm sure the fact that Inu-Yasha is also ass-naked doesn't help matters either."

Inu-Yasha through his pillow at Miroku, and Kagome shut the door, allowing Inu-Yasha to pull on his boxers and his jeans before opening the door for the couple on the other side.

"So," Sango said, "I'm only going to ask once, and once only. What happened this time? If your dad hit you again, I don't know if I'm going to be able to hold off from calling the police this time Inu-Yasha. And who's your...friend?"

"Sango, I'd like you to meet Kagome. Kagome, this is Sango and Miroku, my two best friends. Kagome is my girlfriend." Inu-Yasha said as he searched for his shirt.

"Girlfriend? Aww! Yashy's first girlfriend!" Miroku said mockingly, earning him a glare from the boy.

"How long have you been together?" Sango asked curiously.

"Well..um..we met six months ago," Kagome said, realizing she wasn't quite sure when she'd became Inu-Yasha's girlfriend.

'_Yeah,_' she said to herself, '_would it be when we kissed or after I had sex with him on the jungle gym?_' She thought better of mentioning her doubts outloud though.

"SIX MONTHS?" Miroku and Sango asked together.

"You didn't tell them?" she asked him, frowning a bit.

"I did, they just weren't listening. Not my fault." Inu-Yasha responded, finally spotting his shirt on Sango's dresser.

"Ready to go Kagome?" he asked.

She nodded, and followed Inu-Yasha who led her out of the room.

"You didn't answer the other question." Miroku said pointedly, beginning to worry.

"Oh yeah, about that," Inu-Yasha said, opening the door for Kagome, "my dad died."

The door slammed as Sang and Miroku processed what he'd just said, a perfect symbol of how the news had hit them. 

"Dead? You don't think..." Sango said, trailing off, not wanting to finish her sentence.

"That he killed him? Maybe." Miroku said, looking concerned.

"I was going to ask if you thought he was serious, but way to make a bad situation worse Miroku," Sango said, hitting his arm and sighing into the air.

"Either way," Miroku said, looking at the front door, "I hope he's going to be alright."

-

Kagome and Inu-Yasha stepped out of the station and were greeted by several reporters, cameras, and microphones.

"Inu-Yasha Akunohihi, we've heard from a reliable source that you were the first to witness the murder of your father, is this true?" one of them asked.

Another one had advanced on Kagome, "You're Sen Higurashi's daughter, right?"

"You're the one that made the 911 phone call, yes?"

"What was it like to see your father's body?"

"Do you have any idea who could be responsible for this?"

Inu-Yasha was beginning to look overwhelmed, and angry. Kagome looked at him apprehensively - he looked like he was about to hurt someone. In this case, KAgome didn't think she'd mind so much, but she didn't thnk it would be wise for him to do so on camera.

-

He turned on the television and switched it to the news.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE YOU JERKS!" a girl was screaming at the cameras.

"His father just died last night, and you're being a bunch of insensitive-"

He snickered as the camera turned to the reporter, but it died in his throat at the woman's words.

"And that's the latest we have from Inu-Yasha Akunohihi on the murder of his father Naraku. This is Mary-Jane Bellums from the Sengoku Police Station, Bob and Karen, back to you."

"Inu-Yasha...you're still alive?"

A/N: Wheee! Go Mimi! Go Mimi! This is officially the longest chapter I've ever written. Just over seven pages, nix the author's notes. I'm very proud.

Anyway, if you guys like this, I think I'm going to keep going. I'm rather fond of this story, and I have a lot of it planned out, but I'm still open for suggestions. So please, review and let me know what you think.

_Sora Moto_: Thanks! I hope you like this chapter as well.

_PikaChan_: Pika, 'it's not that bad' doesn't count as telling me what you think. 

_Ren~_: XD Here you go. You don't seem picky. X3

_drake220_: Thanks! Yeah, Pika knows it too. Shh, no inflating her ego.

_xEvax_: Ehehe! I'm glad you liked it Amai. Yeah, as much as I love hentai, I have a problem writing it. ;.;

_Green Bird 2071_: I hope you meant what you said. ^^

_Em Starcatcher_: Hey you! Haven't talked to you in awhile. IM me sometime! Racoons...XD I'd settle for a racoon at this point.

_Justice6891_: Well, yeah, something like that...can't give away too much. ^^

_jettwolf90_: Thumbs up! No one gives me those anymore. Thus, this chapter is dedicated to you. ^^

_dousuku_: It's true though, isn't it? I'd have to write some anti-Kagome Inu-Yasha all up ons Kikyou fic to..wait..'all up ons'..DAMN YOU RASHIE!

_ish_: Thank you so much! 

_Sanomeh_: Potato! I'm glad you liked it!

_Wolfy284_: A must read? *laughs* Cool!

_Sky56_: No, don't die! Then you can't read this chapter!

_kris_: I'm glad you enjoyed it! 

_Shinegami's Little Sis_: Okay okay! XD I can't resist the magic word! 

_candycane_: ^^; What did you think it would be? I hope you liked the story, I couldn't quite tell...


	3. Chapter Two

"Jakken," he called to his assistant, who was outside his door, undoubtedly going over new ways he could suck up to his boss.

"Yes Sir?" he asked even before he burst into the office.

"I need you to call Sesshomaru.  He'll know what's going on.  Tell him to get in touch with me."

He tapped his fingers against his keyboard, before deciding what he wanted to type.

_Rin-_

_It's Touga._

_--_

Kagome paced the floor, suddenly feeling extremely overwhelmed.  She needed to go home, but she couldn't.  She wasn't quite ready for that yet.  Souta had left a message asking her where she was, but neither her mom or dad had bothered to get in touch with her yet.  '_Hell, they probably think I'm home_,' she thought, before shaking her head to dissipate the bitter tone in her head.

The first time she'd been with Inu-Yasha was just over three months ago, and she hadn't had her period since.  She'd already seen Kaede, the midwife who had delivered her, her brother, and assisted in the delivery of her mother.  She knew for a fact that she was indeed pregnant.  She had yet to tell Inu-Yasha, fearing that he'd want her to get rid of the baby.  They hadn't even begun to **think** about children, much less discuss them with one another.   She had been planning on telling him about the baby sometime that week, but she had not foreseen that Inu-Yasha's father was going to be murdered.

Even though Inu-Yasha didn't seem at all bothered by the death of his father, except for the memories that it brought up of his mother, Kagome wasn't quite sure that she wanted to test his mind state and reveal the news of his future child to him.  

She had to do it soon.  She would be at five months in no time, and she'd be beginning to show more than she already was.  She'd already been feeling the baby move, much to Kaede's surprise.  Her own mother had not recognized the movement until much later in her first pregnancy, when Kagome was beginning to kick.

"Kagome?" Sango asked from the entrance to the kitchen.

"Hmm?  Oh, hi Sango.  Do you need something?" Kagome asked, looking around the kitchen for something that Sango might want.

"Help me?  You're the guest here Kagome.  I just came down for something to eat.  Unfortunately, I'm not the best cook, and Miroku is still out with Inu-Yasha."

Kagome nodded, and began to go through their cabinets, "Don't worry, I'm a great cook.  I'll make you something.  So, they're at work right now, right?" she asked, going over recipes in her head.

"Yeah.  They've been working at Stewie's since before I even started going out with Miroku.  Inu-Yasha's great with cars, but Miroku sucks," she said, laughing, probably remembering some fond memory, "so he works in the office.  They should be home in twenty minutes though…"

Kagome turned to Sango with a smirk, "You guys actually have pita bread?  Who already has pita bread neatly tucked into the cabinet?  Seriously."

Sango laughed, nodding with her, "I know.  Miroku bought it.  He doesn't have anything planned if you know anything to use it for."

Kagome paused, before glancing into the refrigerator, "I think I might…wanna help?  You don't have to cook, just help me get it together."

Kagome preheated the oven and had Sango find her a baking sheet.  She placed eight pieces of pita bread on it, and sat it on the stove until the oven was pre-heated.

"Now, while we wait for the beep, you can open three cans of tuna and put it in that bowl over there.  I'll get the other stuff."

Kagome opened the refrigerator again, grabbing some Cheddar cheese, relish, two tomatoes, and a jar of mayonnaise.  She sat them down on the counter, and opened the lids to the relish and mayonnaise.

"You know, you shouldn't store tomatoes in the fridge," she said, "and where do you keep your knives?"

Sango looked up from scooping the second can of into the bowl and pointed to the drawer next to Kagome.  Kagome pulled it open and grabbed one that resembled what her family's chef used when cutting tomatoes.  She chopped them into thing wedges, and then sat them aside. 

"Now, let's put the bread in for about five minutes, okay?"

She went back to the drawer, grabbing a teaspoon and pouring some salt into it.  With a quick flick of her wrist, she had it sprinkled on top of the tuna.  She added several teaspoons of mayonnaise and relish, and instructed Sango to mix them together.

"I'm going to shred some Cheddar.  Once you've got that mixed up, just put an equal amount of it on each of the pitas, I think it's about time for them to come out."

Sango nodded, and Kagome went to work shredding the cheese she'd grabbed from the fridge.  Soon they'd both finished their tasks.  Kagome placed the tomatoes over the tuna, and then sprinkled the cheese on top of them.  She grinned and through her hands up, pronouncing them finished.

"Now, we can melt them," she said, as if she was divulging some great secret.

She put them back into the oven for another five minutes, and set the timer to go off when they were done.

"Those look really good Kagome.  So, two for each of us?" Sango asked, unsure of what else to talk to Kagome about – after all, what was she supposed to say, "Heard your boyfriend's dad was killed."?

"Well, two for you and Miroku, one for me, and three for Inu-Yasha.  We had a picnic once.  I know how he eats."

Sango laughed, nodding, "Yeah, Inu-Yasha has a, er…healthy appetite."

Kagome grinned, but Sango's comment struck her.  She was eating for two now, and it was beginning to show.  Though her morning sickness phase had passed, Kagome had grown accustomed to eating little snacks all through the day, as it made it a lot less obvious just how much she was eating. She was extremely surprised that Inu-Yasha hadn't yet noticed the weight she was gaining around her stomach, but she didn't question it.

Sango looked over at Kagome, who was obviously thinking about something.  She hadn't known the girl very long, but if Inu-Yasha had decided to trust her, she was obviously a good person.  Sango had learned that her friend was an excellent judge of character (she had doubted it in the beginning, what with his being friends with Miroku and all).  She considered herself to be a pretty good judge of emotions herself, and she could tell something aside from the recent events was bugging Kagome.  '_What else could there be?_' she asked herself.

"Hey, Kagome…anything bugging you?  You seem like you've got something on your mind," she asked carefully, not wanting to scare Kagome into not answering.

Kagome glanced shyly away from the girl, wondering if she should tell her or not.  '_Well,_' she thought, '_it would be nice to get this off my chest, and she's going to find out sooner or later, right?_'

"Well, you see, um…I've got something I need to tell Inu-Yasha, and I'm not quite sure how to tell him, or when, and with the things that have been going on recently, I just haven't been up to it.  But he has to know…"

--

"Damn it Miroku," Inu-Yasha swore, "it's your damned house, why don't YOU have your key?"

"I left it at work.  I'm an idiot.  Sue me.  Why don't you have _your_ key?" Miroku shot bag, smirking.

"Keh, I let Kagome have it.  Hope you don't mind,"

Miroku snorted, "Oh no, of course not.  Should I make more copies so that everyone in the neighborhood can get in while we're at work?"

"Oh quit being a smartass Miroku," Inu-Yasha said, "just knock on the door and get Sango or Kagome to let us in."

Miroku shook his head violently as the colour drained from his face.  He had a pale complexion anyway, but he looked ghost white now and very scared.

"Do you **know** what happened last time I knocked on the door at five o'clock?  I woke Sango up from her nap and she kicked the shit out of me.  Now I keep a key underneath the soap dish on the window sill so I can get in when she's not here, or if she could be sleeping."

Inu-Yasha just shook his head, muttering what a wimp his best friend was underneath his breath.  Of course, both of the men knew that Inu-Yasha was no more willing to risk a beating from Sango than Miroku was.  So, Inu-Yasha followed Miroku to the kitchen window.  He cracked it open just enough to reach the soap dish, before noticing that Sango and Kagome were in the kitchen with their backs turned to them.  Inu-Yasha was about to shout out for them, but Miroku quickly placed his hand over the boy's mouth.

"Lesson number one Inu-Yasha.  Whenever you can spy, do so."

Inu-Yasha rolled his eyes, but kept quiet all the same.  The sound of Sango's voice came through the window.

"Hey, Kagome…anything bugging you?  You seem like you've got something on your mind," 

"Well, you see, um…I've got something I need to tell Inu-Yasha, and I'm not quite sure how to tell him, or when, and with the things that have been going on recently, I just haven't been up to it.  But he has to know…"

"What is it Kagome?"

"I'm pregnant," she said, "just a little bit over four months."

Inu-Yasha and Miroku looked at each other, eyes widening at the information they'd recovered.  Inu-Yasha walked back to the front door and tried to process the information.  His girlfriend – his sixteen year old girlfriend – was pregnant.

Miroku didn't know whether to pat him on the back or slap him upside the head.  He settled for an unreadable look.

"So, she's pregnant.  Didn't use protection did you, you moron." Miroku stated, rather than asked.

"Well, it was three months ago.  I didn't exactly have a condom supply, and we hadn't exactly planned it…hey wait…she said she's four months pregnant!  But it was just over three months ago that I slept with her…she…but.." Inu-Yasha shook his head, before turning around and running back to his car.

"Inu-Yasha wait!" Miroku called as the car sped off.

'_Idiot!_' he thought, '_doesn't that moron know that it's done by the last menstrual period and not the date of conception?_'

He shook his head before wondering '_How the hell do **I** know that?_'  He knocked on the door quickly and harshly, needing the girls to open it up quickly.

The door swung open and revealed a very pissed off Sango.  Before she could even speak, Miroku brushed passed her and grabbed Kagome's shoulders.

"Kagome, Inu-Yasha heard what you said, and he's an idiot and thinks you've slept with someone else, and now he's ran away."

Kagome blinked, before grabbing her cell phone and running out of the door.

Sango and Miroku looked at each other, as the timer went off on the oven.

"Do you think they're going to leave here just **once** without causing some sort of scene here?" Sango asked, before opening the oven door and showing Miroku the food they'd made.

"Doubt it," he said picking one up, "ouch!  Hot."

--

Kagome hung up her phone and stomped in frustration.  Inu-Yasha wasn't answering his cell phone.  She had a good idea where he'd gone to though.  She flipped the phone back open and dialed one of the phone lines in her house.

"Hello, Higurashi residence?"

"Hey, Miss Kikyou?  Can you pick me up really quick, I need you to drop me off somewhere."

--

**A/N**:  I'm SO sorry I took so long with this chapter.  I'm currently writing it on my mother's computer, which isn't very appealing to me, but I decided to just swallow my hatred of this laptop and do it anyway for you guys.  So if you catch some spelling mistakes, let me know, because this keyboard isn't the best!

_dousuku_:  XD  33 you my darling.

_Sora Moto_:  Yeah, well…what can I say?  I couldn't think of a better way to start off a chapter than a murder.

_Loki*-*TheGrimScreamer_:  :O!  Someone, quick!  Call Rumiko Takahashi!  We've got another case of a kidnapped character!

_Em Starcatcher_:  I always thought so too. ^^  Won't be any more sex while I'm writing this on my mother's computer though. 

_xEvax_:  XD  *gropes*

_Elen Liste Alda_:  First of all, what's up with all these E people? XD Second of all, guess it wasn't!

Expect the next chapter sometime between now and April. :P


	4. Chapter Three

Kikyou glanced at the girl from the corner of an eye, trying to keep her focus on the road. Kagome had been under her care since she was a small child, and her parents saw no need in hiring a nanny when their cook was already on the payroll. Kagome had taken an immediate liking to Kikyou since she had began working for them when the young girl was only three. 

"Kagome, you still haven't told me what's going on," she reminded her, not expecting her to answer.

Kagome sighed, and pressed her forehead against the cool glass of the car window. It was one of hers - her mother had bought it for her a year ago, not realizing Kagome wouldn't be able to drive it for at least another year. She scowled at the imprint she left on the window, and made a mental note to get it washed later.

"Just keep going Kikyou, okay?" she said, noticing that the park was just up ahead.

Kikyou nodded, and kept going.

--

Inu-Yasha sat at the very top of the jungle gym, staring off into the opposite direction of Kagome's house. He couldn't take looking over at the small opening between the trees, as the illusion of Kagome kept running out at him. When he'd heard Kagome say she was pregnant, he'd been shocked...but he was happy. 

The sound of a car approaching startled him a bit, but didn't shake him out of his depression. He knew whoever was in that car had to have much more money than he did. It was a Phaeton, he could tell. They were at least around 65 thousand, and he could tell this one had more than just the basics. 

The blue-green car pulled to a halt next to his own dark red Ford Cobra convertible. The passenger door opened and his girlfriend got out of the car. She leaned over to say something to the driver, before slamming the door and running over to him.

"Inu-Yasha!"

He refused to meet her eyes, or even acknowledge her presence, but he knew that wouldn't be enough to get her to leave him alone. She began climbing up the jungle gym, refusing to be ignored.

"Inu-Yasha you idiot," she whispered, before launching herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around his unmoved frame.

:"Inu-Yasha, I haven't slept with anyone else. The baby is yours you moron," she said, the cool she'd managed to keep fading away. 

She knew he'd forgive her, and they'd laugh about how stupid he was - it wasn't that she doubted that. But telling Inu-Yasha this, suddenly made it all that much real. A _real_ human life was growing inside of her.

"But, you said that.."

She cut him off with a sigh, and crawled into his lap, straddling him so that she could press her forehead against his.

"Inu-Yasha, they don't start counting from when you had sex, they count from your last period,"

He looked relieved, but he was still afraid. Kagome shook her head, before grinning slightly. She knew how to convince him.

"Besides," she whispered, maneuvering her hips just right above him, "you took my virginity, remember? You were my first, Inu-Yasha. My _only_."

He smirked at that, and wrapped his arms around her, "I'm sorry I'm such an idiot Kagome," he said, regretting his actions, "I should have trusted in you."

She shook her head, and kissed his cheek, before backing out of his lap and climbing off of the jungle gym.

"That's okay," she called up to him, "you're just not used to trusting people. Now, if you do something like this a few years from now, we may have a problem, but...I can forgive you now. Besides, who knows when I'll actually get you to admit you're wrong about something again? This is a cause for celebration."

He grinned back at her, and climbed down as well.

"So...who's the broad staring at us?" he asked, glancing over in Kikyou's direction.

Kagome gasped, and buried her head into Inu-Yasha's shoulder, as she realized she just put on a mini-display in front of the woman that pretty much raised her.

"Um, that would be Kikyou" she said, "our cook."

He grinned at the blushing girl next to him, and decided to mess around with her a bit. He lifted her up and threw her over his shoulder, before marching over to the woman beside the car.

"Pleased to meet you Kikyou," he grinned and held out his hand, "I'm Inu-Yasha."

Kikyou raised an eyebrow at the boy, but shook his hand none-the-less. Inu-Yasha let Kagome down and grinned at her.

"Inu-Yasha, you shouldn't do that!"

"Why not?" he asked, "I won't be able to in a few months, right?"

Kikyou suppressed a grin. '_So, Kagome has finally gotten a boyfriend, huh? I was beginning to wonder..._'

"You can go on home Kikyou," Kagome said, "I'm going with Inu-Yasha."

She looked at Kagome doubtfully for a second, before smiling and nodding. She trusted her to make good decisions, and in the end, it wasn't really up to her anyway. '_Besides_' she thought, '_I should let her have fun before her parents break the news to her._'

"Ah, Kagome, your parents have moved Souta's trip back a bit. Stop by in the next couple of days, why don't you? It is your home after all, and...your parents need to talk to you."

Kagome looked worried, "Is it serious?"

'_Yes,_'

"It can wait Kagome...but come home for awhile, okay?"

Kagome nodded, and flashed Kikyou a grin, "No problem! See ya later."

The two parties got in their cars, and drove in opposite directions, and into different worlds.

-

She waited outside the door, listening to what was happening inside. The sounds of labored breathing and incomprehensible words and phrases being moaned out left no doubt in her mind as to just what Inu-Yasha Taisho was doing in there with the heiress to the Higurashi fortune.

She smirked, before taping the letter to the door and stalking off. According to her sources, the penthouse belonging to the Higurashi family had only been used twice recently, both times by Kagome. '_Must mean he doesn't have any other pressing matters_' she thought, before picking up her cell phone and dialing her boss's number as she snuck down the fire escape stairs.

"Hey, Jakken, it's Rin, send me through."

-

Inu-Yasha smirked down at Kagome, who was trying desperately to catch her breath. The two of them had driven almost immediately to the penthouse, and Kagome had made a call telling the staff not to bother them for the rest of the day. His smirk widened as he thought '_I do believe I've just been ravaged_,'

"Again Inu-Yasha," Kagome said, nuzzling against his neck.

"Again," he agreed, "and then we can get something to eat, hmm?"

Kagome's head shot up, as she remembered the food she'd made that Sango and Miroku had no doubt already finished by now. '_Those would have been sooo good!_' she thought sadly.

"Food! Yes, let's eat now!" she cried out, running from the bedroom, into the kitchen.

"But..." Inu-Yasha said, looking down at the spot where his girlfriend had just been laying, "I thought we were going to do that _after-_"

He was cut off by the sound of his own stomach growling, and he sighed. '_I guess there's no helping it_.'

-

'_Inu-Yasha.._'

The ringing of his private phone line snapped him out of his daydream, causing him to snap his back up rigidly as he answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"...ga...It's...can you...Rin! Bastard...wouldn't...blame Jakken...but..I just...your letter...se...a..ouga!"

He blinked, trying to string together what Rin had said. He knew it was _something _regarding the letter he'd instructed her to send Inu-Yasha, but an annoying static noise broke up most of her message. He did understand one part clearly though.

'_Blame Jakken_ '

"Jakken!" he bellowed, knowing his assistant would run in soon, probably scattering a few papers along the way.

'_As long as he picks them up again_,' he smirked to himself.

"Yes! Can I help you sir?!" Jakken cried out, before tripping over his feet in front of his boss's desk.

"Yes. Why did I just get a call from Rin on my private line, where the only discernable words were 'Blame Jakken'?"

The man gulped, knowing he would probably be getting in a _lot_ of trouble for this if he didn't have a good explanation. From the look on his boss's face, there probably wasn't one good enough.

"Well, sir, you see, I didn't know that you wanted her call to come through. You know Rin, sometimes she's been known to use the phone lines for unprofessional reasons..."

"I'm _well_ aware of her calls to Sesshomaru, Mr. Jakken. Those are none of your business. Rin has a _much_ higher position than you do, both in this company, and in my personal life. I'd suggest you don't question her again. Now, did she say why she was calling?"

"Yes, yes sir! Something about delivering a letter, and wanting you to know everything went smoothly."

'_Ah, good. It's only a matter of time, Inu-Yasha,_'

"Good. Leave me Jakken."

-

Inu-Yasha watched in amusement as Kagome went back and forth from searching the refrigerator to kissing him, with most of her ill-aimed pecks landing everywhere but his lips. Finally, she gave up on her search for something edible.

"We never keep any real food here. We don't come often, so most of it is stuff that will last a long time. We tend to eat out here. But I don't _feel_ like ordering room service," she whined.

"Why not, isn't it easier than trying to make something decent in here?"

She scowled, "Yeah right! And have to deal with those bitter busboys and room service maids? Keh. Ooh! I know, you can run out and get us something!" she said happily, clasping her hands together and looking at him hopefully.

He barely glanced at her puppy eyes before slumping his shoulders and resignation. '_No use fighting it_' he thought, _'I'm a gonner._'

"Alright baby, what do you want?"

"Hmm...DONUTS! The glazed kind, that have chocolate on them, with rainbow sprinkles. And the regular glazed kind too. With chocolate sprinkles. Aaaand...ooh, those kind that have the fruit stuff inside! I want a lemon one! Oh! And one of those sausages in the bread."

Inu-Yasha blinked, before deciding to grab a pencil and paper and take notes.

"Uh...Kagome, you _do_ know that it's fairly late in the afternoon, right?" he asked.

She looked at him with a classic 'So what?' expression on her face, and he shook his head. He'd find a donut shop that was open, if only because she wanted him to. '_I mean, there has to be at least one, right?_'

Kagome watched him leave, and her eyes widened when she realized that he had-

"HOLY FUCK!" he screamed, running back in the penthouse.

She tried her hardest to suppress a giggle as Inu-Yasha ran back to the bedroom to grab his clothes. While he was in the bedroom, searching for the clothing that had been thrown in random directions, Kagome noticed something quite out of place - a letter taped to the door.

She grabbed it off of the door - there was no name on it, and she wondered if it could be from the staff. After all, she had told them not to bother her. The sneaking suspicion in the back of her mind however, did not quite believe that. There was nothing written on it, not even a name, much less any hotel insignia.

She opened the envelope with hesitation, almost as if it could be one of those Howlers from the Harry Potter series (not that she read them, _of course_), but when she pulled the letter inside of it out, it was still just a regular piece of paper, and the apartment was as quiet as before, until Inu-Yasha came back into the room.

"Inu-Yasha..." she said, before he could get back out of the door.

"Yeah, what else do you need?" he asked, still embarrassed about his indecent exposure earlier.

"You've got a letter," she said simply.

At first Inu-Yasha didn't see anything wrong with the situation, especially not anything that would be so wrong as to make Kagome's face as pale as it was. But then he realized one important fact: no one knew he was there. Even better, aside from Sango and Miroku, who were most definitely clueless as to their location, no one cared or knew Inu-Yasha enough to bother sending him a letter.

He wanted to toss it out right away, but Kagome had already began reading it.

"Dear Inu-Yasha," she began, "I know you don't know me, but I can imagine that we'll be getting to see each other a lot soon. You might want to sit down - you too Kagome - because I've got a lot to say here."

A/N: Ooooh~ Does that count as a cliffhanger? 

_Samantha-1434_: Well, not to spoil anything, because it was supposed to be implied, but no, Inu-Yasha didn't murder Naraku. XD

_Loki*-*TheGrimScreamer_: Now now, if you give him back now, they'll go easier on you (Psst, meet me in the back, we can talk about running away and sharing him..)

_SilentSlayer_: Nothing at all? ;_;

_scerpixy5: _Little bit more on the Rin front, hmm?

_kokoro_: XD That made my day! I'm sorry to have made you wait so long! I was kidding when I said that this would be out closer to April..

_elf-princess4_: Er...here? :D *hands new chapter over*

_Em Starcatcher_: Still, those things are good, I can't blame Miroku. *laughs* Inu-Yasha however...

_inuyasha the youkai_: Eep! Don't hurt me!

_Happy Youkai_: Of course it's that easy. Fairly simple problem to fix, ne? I don't like dragging on the simple problems, it makes the big ones much less dramatic.

_evie_: Your review still leaves me a little confused...^^;

_Drusilla Le Vampira Insania_: He heard it on tv one night and it stuck with him. Or maybe Sango's been putting ideas into his head...

_weqw_: What a detailed review! Forced me right up into typing the end of this chapter. 


	5. Chapter Four

Kagome paused, scanning ahead in the letter before she read the rest aloud. Her eyes widened considerably, making Inu-Yasha more and more nervous by the second.

"Kagome, put it down," he said, "I don't want to hear it."

"Inu-Yasha, sit down," Kagome said, more than a little forcefully, "I think you're really going to want to hear this. It's about your father."

Inu-Yasha rolled his eyes, "Like I really care about whatever this bitch has to say about Naraku."

"He's not your father, Inu-Yasha."

Inu-Yasha sat.

-

"Miss Rin," Touga said, smirking at the flustered girl, "I take it Sesshomaru has arrived?"

"Yes sir," Rin answered, running her fingers down her skirt, trying to smooth it down, "I believe he's waiting in the lobby for you, sir."

"You believe eh? Well, if you believe it, I believe it," he said, eyeing Rin's blouse, which had several buttons undone, "I'll need you to get him in here, while I find something to keep Jakken busy with."

Rin nodded, and spun around on her heal to grab Sesshomaru (and maybe a bit more, if Touga was right). He had been watching their relationship since Rin had joined his company a couple of years ago, and he was fairly sure they were headed towards marriage and children. '_Though'_ he thought, '_with the way those two carry on, it might not be in that order_.'

He rolled his eyes at the thought, and buzzed Jakken.

"Yes Mr. Taisho?" Jakken said through the intercom.

"I have a task for you. I need you to go to a business meeting in my place. The one in Hong Kong. Do hurry."

The sound of someone scrambling out of their desk was heard just before a light knock on the door. Touga rolled his eyes at the sound, knowing that Rin still had not gotten used to the idea that she was allowed to enter without asking. The door opened soon after that, revealing Sesshomaru, his oldest son, who was being chewed out by Rin for opening the door.

He suppressed a smirk, choosing instead to grab a file laying on his desk.

"Now, Rin. You've located the agent that informed me of Inu-Yasha's death, right?"

Rin nodded, knowing he would be asking for details next.

"Now, who was it and why was this done?"

"Her name was Kagura Kano. She was a spy in the organization, and was overseeing the murders. When they failed to kill Naraku and Inu-Yasha, her life was on the line, so she lied to both sides to cover up her ass."

The two men nodded, and Touga placed a hand on his chin thoughtfully, "Now, if that was the case, how did they find out Naraku and Inu-Yasha were still alive?"

Sesshomaru nodded at the question, indicating that he too had pondered this, and turned to Rin for an answer.

"Well, that was actually Naraku's fault. Up until that point, they'd been living fairly quietly, in the poorer neighborhood by that old abandoned park off of Carrier. However, He'd been drunk one night, and caused a scene near Club Venice, which happens to be known for their ties with the Kits. _He_ happened to be there that night, and recognized Naraku. They trailed him home, and killed him there. If not for that news report, they may not have even realized Inu-Yasha is still alive. However, the chances of them not having seen it is slim. Very slim, and it would take a miracle."

Sesshomaru nodded, "I saw it, though I've already contacted the police stations and the media. There won't be any more of that story out there, so if they somehow missed that report, Inu-Yasha is safe from them for now."

'_For now_' they all thought.

"Well, what's the first step?" Sesshomaru asked, turning towards his father.

"Rin has already taken care of that. She's notified Inu-Yasha of the basic facts, and has arranged a meeting for us," Touga answered.

"A meeting? We aren't going to get him?" 

Rin shook her head, "Maybe we could have, when he was 17, but he's old enough to make his own decisions now, and your father respects that."

"Respects...Father, his life could be in danger, and you're giving him a _choice_?"

"Oh Sesshomaru," Rin said airily, "I highly doubt he's going to decide to put his life in danger, especially since he's got a girlfriend to protect."

Two pairs of Taisho eyes bore into her, causing her to squirm at their intensity.

"Girlfriend?" they asked simultaneously.

"Yeah, her name is Kagome–" she started, only to be cut off by Touga.

"I don't think it's a good idea to keep any girlfriends involved in this."

Rin resisted the urge to roll her eyes in front of her boss, and instead chose to voice her doubts about his stance.

"Mr. Taisho, he is _your_ son. He wouldn't leave her alone. When you thought that the Kitsunes were after you, you were extremely hesitant in letting her go with Naraku."

"How did you know that?" He interrupted her again.

Rin ignored hm and continued speaking, "I do believe you only agreed to let Naraku take her and Inu-Yasha when there was an attack on your home. Do you really want Inu-Yasha to have to be convinced in the same way? And, as for 'how I know', it's what you pay me for, isn't it?"

Touga smirked, "Yes, I believe it is. And here I was thinking it was so you could distract my son."

Rin blushed but continued to look Touga in the eye, "I'd gladly do that for free Mr. Taisho. And it's not as if you mind. Been wanting grand kids, haven't we?"

Touga's smirk widened into a smile, "You do your job well."

Rin merely grinned, before she turned to Sesshomaru.

"It's time for us to go and fix up Inu-Yasha's apartment."

Sesshomaru nodded, and turned towards his father, shaking his hand to say goodbye. Once he and Rin were out of the office, she turned to hm with a quirked eyebrow. '_I'm about to be interrogated_' he thought.

"You and your father act more like business partners than Father and Son," she observed.

Sesshomaru nodded, "It's always been like that."

"Why?" she pried.

He rolled his eyes at her, muttering something about her being nosy, but obliged her an answer anyway.

"We never had time to be in that traditional family setting. After Izayoi died, and Father thought that she and Inu-Yasha had passed on, he buried himself in work. I was raised by various office members. I slept here. I used to think he'd forgotten about me. But, eventually, he came down and brought me in his office, and started teaching me about the business."

Rin contemplated his words as the two of them stepped into the elevator. '_And you were craving his attention so much, you took what you could get..._'

"I don't think you've ever said that many words at once since we met."

Sesshomaru thought about that. '_How long has it been? Only two years?_' He remembered when he had first met her, when she was being evaluated for her building invasion.

_He watched the figure moving on the screens in front of them, taking notes on the technique._

_"Who is this?" Sesshomaru asked one of the other men observing the screen._

_"Her name is Rin. She does pretty well, doesn't she?"_

_Sesshomaru nodded, though he wasn't that impressed. She was good, but there were better people out there. '_I could probably do better if I tried_'_

_"She's okay. Give her an off site job. She's not that great, I'm sure we could find someone better."_

_"You sure about that?" a feminine voice asked from behind him._

_Everyone in the room swung their heads back and the man Sesshomaru had been talking to stuttered._

_"Miss Takaishi!" he exclaimed._

_"Call me Rin," she answered smoothly._

_"But..." he turned back to the screens to see a man waving at him happily._

_"I'd like to thank your security officer Fred for filling in for me while I broke into your building."_

_"How did you get in?" Sesshomaru asked._

_Rin grinned, "Well, that's for me to know and you to wonder about, Sesshomaru."_

_"How do you-" he started, but she winked and cut him off._

_"That's what you'll pay me for, right?"_

_He looked at her and gave a rare smile, "Yes, I believe it is."_

He was snapped out of his thoughts by the elevator's _ding_.

"Rin?" he said, as they stepped out into the main lobby.

"Hmm?"

"How _did _you break into the building on your invasion test?"

Rin gave him a peck on the cheek and headed for the doors.

"That's for me to know..." she said happily.

"And me to wonder about," he finished.

-

Rin always dominated the radio. While Sesshomaru had an extreme fondness for classical music, his girlfriend went after anything she could get her hands on. She'd taken to going through phases of particular favourites, and this week, it was their local alternative station. She squealed happily when she reached the station, and started singing along.

"Hey come and go and I don't kill a thing! It's just 'cause I'm a jerk and I don't care!"

Sesshomaru shook his head, "I think you got that wrong. 'They come and go and I don't feel a thing. It's not 'cause I'm a jerk and I don't care' is what he says."

Rin narrowed her eyes, "Rewind it."

Sesshomaru ignored her command, and reminded her that it was the radio, not a CD.

"You mean there's no TiVo for radio yet? Honestly! What are our scientists working on? No robots, no smellovision, no _decent_ painless way to pluck my eyebrows...I'm disappointed and disgusted," she ranted.

'_She's just trying to distract from the fact that she was wrong_.'

"It's dark out," he noted, helping her change the subject. 

"It is...I hope that's not an omen...or a bad one, anyway."

Sesshomaru nodded, and searched his mind for a conversation topic. Normally, he was content to sit in silence, but he found that when he did, he brooded, and he didn't want to entertain thoughts of the worst case scenario when it came to his half brother.

"So...girlfriend?" he asked, referring to Rin's earlier mention of Kagome.

"Girl-oh! Inu-Yasha. Yes. And you'll _never_ guess who it is!" she exclaimed.

Sesshomaru shook his head, "I doubt I could. Do you think I'd know her?"

Rin nodded, "Her name is Kagome. Kagome _Higurashi_."

His eyes widened slightly, "_The_ Kagome Higurashi? As in, heiress to the Higurashi fortune? Daughter of Daisuke and Sora Higurashi?"

Rin nodded again, "Isn't it romantic?"

Sesshomaru smirked, "_Very_. I think I met her once."

"Twice," Rin supplied, "once at the banquet dinner for her grandfather's 80'th birthday, and once when she came with her father to a business meeting with your father."

"How do you-" he started, but shook his head, "never mind. It's what Father and I pay you for."

As they pulled into the parking lot of the apartment building, it was obvious almost at once that something was wrong. People stood around, pointing at the window of one of the apartments, which had been busted. From the glass on the ground, it was fairly obvious that it had been broken from the inside.

Rin and Sesshomaru exchanged worried glances, before hurrying up into the building. A couple of people yelled at them to stop, but they ignored their shouts. After clearing three flights of stairs, they found themselves where Inu-Yasha's apartment was supposed to be. It was unharmed.

Next to it, however, the neighboring apartment's door had been broken down, and a woman and her son stood outside crying. Another woman stood beside them, patting the woman on the pack and whispering reassuring words to her.

"What happened here?" Rin asked, gesturing to the obvious damage.

"We don't know," said the woman comforting the sobbing mother, "a man came, and he was knocking on the neighboring door. I asked him what he was doing, and he said he'd come to visit his nephew. I told him no one lived there yet, but that a boy lived next door...I went out to help her carry in the groceries, and we heard the glass break on the window..."

The little boy looked up at his mother, "Mama, she's going to be okay right?"

The woman just continued sobbing and whispering 'Mayu, Mayu!'. Sesshomaru shook his head, and led Rin out of the hallway. As soon as they had separated from the crowd, they looked at each other.

"Fuck," Rin swore, as Sesshomaru pulled out his cell phone.

After a couple of seconds, Sesshomaru spoke to his father.

"Yeah, it's me. Bad news. He was here."

--

A/N: I know it's short! I'm sorry! However...don't expect the next one to be long either...

Anyway, in other news, it's my father's birthday today! Rot in hell you bastard! :D

_Sora Moto_: ^^; I don't especially like them...and I'm not really known for writing them myself, however, in this case, it was necessary. (Mostly because I totally lost all my notes for the plot, and forgot what I wanted, so I had to buy time to think about it...XD)

_Ai Inu Koi_: Aww! I'm sorry! Especially since, I like.._adore_ you. I read all your stuff at Media Miner. I promised myself I wouldn't fangirl if an author I liked reviewed me, but...eee~!! 

_scerpixy5_: I know, isn't it great?! The story doesn't really focus on her pregnancy though...(I've started like fifty others for that...) As for the chapters being longer...I try to go for 4,000 words...this time it was barely 2,000, and that took me a long time to accomplish...most months aren't as hectic as this however...I'll try for longer chapters, but I won't promise anything...just don't complain if it takes awhile!

_Happy Youkai_: Ehehe. The plot thickens, yes! It's like I said, some people just pile on the drama, to the point where they can't even kiss and they're fighting and stuff. Not my style. Opening with Inu-Yasha and Kagome and then not going back to them for the rest of the chapter? _So_ my style. Updating the next chapter a month later, and only putting Rin's letter in it? Also my style. Does this make me evil?

_Em Starcatcher_: Touga. :D You know all the rumors going around that Touga is Inu-Yasha's father's name? I decided I liked it, and now that's what I use. XD I'm surprised some of my spoiler-hogs didn't pick up on that sooner.

_Kaoru-890_: You feel strongly about this, yes? Well, we can arrange a meeting anytime in May..XD

_Elen Liste Alda_: Wasn't it fun?! Silly Inu. XD

_michael_: Actually, for the more common abortions, it's pretty much too late for her to get an abortion...and she wants the baby! However, if it makes you feel better, the story isn't about the baby or the pregnancy.

_Hentai no Ai_: I have no life in the outside world, sorry. XD And I know how you feel. That always happens to me, except the story never updates again...*looks at her abandoned fics* Okay, you might not be the only other reader suffering..

_Aibon Nono_: Hey! *hugs* You're so cool, and I command you to keep reading...and to IM me again.

_gothic inuyasha_: Reviewers get answers. XD Letter = next chapter. Reactions to the letter and what Kagome's parents want to say = chapter after that. :D Don't worry though, between you and me, what her parents want isn't all that bad.

_Chibi-Kerochan_: Aww! Puppy dog eyes. XD Alright, you're the first person to know the story is up. *emails you*


	6. Rin's Letter

Dear Inu-Yasha,

I know you don't know me, but I can imagine that we'll be getting to see each other a lot soon. You might want to sit down - you too Kagome - because I've got a lot to say here.

I'm sure you're wondering who I am - my name is Rin Takaishi. I work for Touga Taisho, of Taisho Enterprises, Taiyoukai Corp and Youkai Industrial. So, I suppose the first thing I should mention is that he's your father, Inu-Yasha.

Mr. Taisho has been targeted by a gang called The Kitsunes, and at one point, they attacked his home. Fearing for his wife and son's safety, he sent them away with his right-hand man, into hiding. When Izayoi was killed, we were informed that both you (Inu-Yasha), and Naraku had passed, and so were the Kits.

Because of Naraku's recent death, however, the truth has been brought into the light. Because of this, you're in danger.

As of now, it's possible that the Kitsunes do not know you're still alive. Either way, they have yet to assemble enough information to know of your present whereabouts or any plans you may have for the future (I've taken the liberty of destroying any of the information they could get their hands on - it's what your father pays me for).

Your father would like to offer you and Kagome (since she's now involved in this as well), a safe place to stay while we handle the situation. If you wish to decline this offer (though, personally, I don't see how you could!), we're willing to arrange an escape for you, and provide you with ways to stay unnoticed by the Kitsunes.

You have until tomorrow, at noon, to come up with a decision. Short notice, but we have little time. So, meet me at the Y.I.C. building in downtown. Wait by the security desk, I'll come and get you.

-Rin

PS: Congratulations on the baby Kagome!

-

A/N: Ahaha. Yes, it's not really a chapter, but never fear, the new one will be up ...soon. See, the thing is, I'M GONG TO A-KON! So I get to see Do As Infinity. It's so exciting. XD If you're going to be there, let me know. Especially if you're a single male cosplaying Inu-Yasha. -laughs- Anyhoo...

_Chibi-Kerochan_: Reaction...I haven't thought that far ahead. XD What do you think he'd do?

_KenshinLover45_: Do you know what bothered me about your review? You didn't even tell me what confused you. How am I supposed to fix it if _I_ have no idea what _you're_ talking about?

_Mini Nicka_: Yes! Secrets. I love them.

_Loki---TheGrimScreamer_: That's because Sesshomaru and Kagura aren't together in this story, remember? Polyamorous Sesshomaru...lovely...but not in this fic.

_Aibon Nono_: -laughs- Pedophiles scare me. Odd conclusion you jumped to though...and yet, you still read it...-laughs-

_Ai Inu Koi_: Ee! You reviewed again. -sparkles- I'm glad you like it!

_TheMagician_: Yes, I couldn't help that. In the original version that I had in my head, Kagome actually knew Sango, because she and her father worked for Kagome's father. I'm actually thinking of writing out that version too...it's drastically different...much fun, yes? As for Miroku and Sango...I was actually going to write that scene, but I chickened out. -laughs-

_amberescence_: I prefer dryer lint.

_Weirdo's Rule_: XDD!! Your review gives me so much pleasure. Sadly, no, not lately. ;–;

_samaru_: OH MY GOSH! My first "Kagome has BROWN eyes!!" reviewer! I didn't think it would ever happen..;—; For the purpose of this story, I'm going by Kagome's eyes in the _manga_ which are blue-grey, not brown.

_Em Starcatcher_: Out of the loop, eh? 'Cha doing to be so busy? (Obviously not updating _The Haunting of Higurashi Farm_ ;; How depressing...) And yes, Sess/Rin = XD

_Happy Youkai: _Sort of..Sess and Rin work for Sesshomaru's father...XD And I'm not going to say anymore...DBZ fics...the only one I'm reading is _The Prince and Princess Diaries_ by Gohan's Onna..

_Maiden of the Moon_: I win the bet! Bwahaha...Anyhoo, yeah, a lot of people were thrown off by the Naraku thing. XD I enjoyed it very much..

_DemonKitty_: I think you may be the only one, if my other reviews are any indication...but don't worry, all will be revealed...soon...-snickers- Oh, I'm gonna love writing _that_ chapter..

_Belldandychan_: Oh, yay! I'm so happy you like it. Now I'm blushing. I'll keep writing, if you keep reading. :D


	7. Chapter Five

Kagome sat the letter down and looked over at Inu-Yasha, who still had his focus on the letter. It was as if he was trying to see what was really written on it. '_That's entirely possible though,_' Kagome thought, '_I mean, that **was** unbelievable news..._' 

However shocking the letter was though, Kagome knew it was right. She had no proof, only her instinct, but her instinct rarely let her down. Inu-Yasha's eyes cleared up and he glanced to her, silently asking what her thoughts were. 

"I want to take them up on their offer," Kagome said quietly. 

Her boyfriend nodded his agreement. "I do too," he told her, "so what are we going to do?" 

Kagome sat quietly, wishing she hadn't read the letter naked, so that she'd have some fabric to occupy her hands. '_I need to think,_' she told herself, '_think..._' 

"Okay...I'm going to go to my parent's house and see what they wanted to tell me. Then we can meet downtown? I'll call a taxi home." she suggested. 

"That sounds good...I'm going to go to Miroku and Sango's and get some stuff we forgot, and meet you down there. How long do you think you're going to be?" 

Kagome snorted, "Probably not too long. They're probably just trying to get me to consider not going into the family business.." 

Inu-Yasha snorted as well, remembering Kagome's business woes. Her plan was to graduate early and go into her family's corporation. However, they felt she would be better in a different position - any position. For some reason, they were dead set against either of their children working for them. 

He got up, giving her a kiss on the cheek, and headed for the door. He turned around and smirked before saying, "Don't forget to get dressed. We don't want a repeat of my episode earlier. At least, not if I'm not around to see it." 

Kagome watched him leave, had a few appreciative thoughts about his ass, and headed for the bedroom to get dressed. '_It's insane that this is happening. This isn't realistic at all! And we're taking it like we just found out it was raining..._' The truth was, however, ever since Kagome met Inu-Yasha, she had prepared herself for the unpreparable. He did seem like the type who required such behavior. '_I guess it's not so much how we're handling this so much as what it is we're handling. Inu-Yasha and I aren't really the type who react to things explosively._' She rolled her eyes at a few memories that spoke contrary to that fact, but usually, Inu-Yasha took things quietly, not wanting to show his emotions about them. When something made him angry, he became loud, but he reacted to most everything else with silence or diversion. 

She tugged a shirt on and glanced around for her shoes, noticing that her pants were getting much tighter. She was scared, because it seemed like she was getting bigger and bigger each day, and the visual reminder of the fact that she was carrying another life made her think about the future, and that was a scary thing to do. However, she was mostly excited. She hadn't even known she was pregnant for that long, and already she wanted her baby right that moment. '_This time next year, I'll be able to hold it in my arms,_' she thought happily, envisioning what it might look like. 

She dialed the front desk, letting them know that she needed a taxi _immediately_, and went towards the door. She paused to look around the penthouse, knowing she probably wouldn't be seeing it again for awhile. '_I won't be seeing a lot of things for awhile..._' She turned off the lights and headed for the elevator. 

- 

Inu-Yasha knew he was way over the apartment's twenty mile speed limit as he slammed the breaks into a stop in front of Sango and Miroku's apartment. The action made a loud noise, alerting Miroku and Sango (and anyone else in the complex) that he had arrived. He jumped out of the car, stalling a bit to yank the key out, and and ran up to the door, pulling it open. He debated on telling the couple to lock the door once in awhile, but he settled for running to Sango's room and grabbing what he had left the night before. He could hear two sets of feet running down the stairs to greet him as he picked up the duffle bag he left at their apartment that included a few changes of clothes and some of his more important belongings. Sure enough, Miroku and Sango were waiting for him in the living room. 

"Well?" Miroku asked hopefully. He really wanted Kagome and Inu-Yasha to stay together - he had become like a little brother to him, and it was obvious that Kagome made him happy. 

Sango looked at him nervously, "Did Kagome tell you what I said before Miroku came in?" 

"We talked about things. And no, we haven't talked about you saying anything...But I've gotta go now, and you may not see me again for a long time. See, it turns out, Naraku wasn't my father, and my real father is Touga Taisho, and he's involved with some crime mob somehow, and they're after me and Kagome. So now we've gotta go and hide, and she's over talking to her parents right now, and we're about to go downtown to leave. But I'm sure we'll be okay. I'll find a way to talk to you guys, alright? Alright! Bye!" 

He was out of the door before Miroku and Sango could even think up a reply. Miroku turned to Sango and sighed. 

"Well...what _did_ you tell Kagome?" 

- 

Sesshomaru and Rin paced inside the lobby of the Youkai Industrial Corporation building, as Rin quite literally freaked out. 

"How did they find that out? I swear I covered all of my tracks! How did they-" 

"Rin! That's enough. Someone will hear you." 

Rin glared at Sesshomaru and sank to the floor. She didn't handle failure well. Probably because she wasn't very used to it. She took extensive pride at being very good at her job. The phrase 'Failure is not an option' was one that she took to heart. The fact that she had failed at something that big did nothing to make the blow easier. Sesshomaru sighed and sank down with her, placing his hands on her shoulders. 

"It's okay Rin. They didn't get him, and now we can send him somewhere else without any way for them to find out or anything to track. It's better this way." 

Rin nodded sadly, and waited for Inu-Yasha's car to pull up out front. Despite Sesshomaru's (out of character) "comforting" words, she wouldn't be okay until things were fixed, and even then, she would beat herself up for that one for awhile. She quickly pulled herself together when a dark red car pulled up in front of the building. She looked up at Sesshomaru excitedly, forgetting her screw up. 

"He's here!" 

Sesshomaru didn't show much of a reaction, but Rin had gotten to know his subtle signs. She was good with that anyway, but she found that with Sesshomaru she'd had to try harder than usual. His eyes changed mostly, and his head swivelled to where he thought his younger brother may be. Rin was filled with an almost painful feeling of floating. She knew that this was a bigger deal than just keeping Inu-Yasha safe. This was Sesshomaru's _brother_. She grabbed his hand, but he stood frozen to the spot. She rolled her eyes, and with without him to greet Inu-Yasha. 

She pushed out of the doors just as Inu-Yasha stepped out of the Cobra. 

"Inu-Yasha. I'm Rin." she said happily, glancing behind her to see if Sesshomaru had moved yet. He hadn't. 

Inu-Yasha moved around the car to stand on the sidewalk in front of Rin, and shook her hand. 

"It's good to see ya, I guess," he said, sounding unsure. 

She heard the _whoosh_ of a door opening and grinned widely. 

"Sesshomaru," she said, turning around towards the man, "I'm glad you could make it." 

He stepped next to her, staring at Inu-Yasha intently. 

"Well," she said, addressing both of them, "I'd like you to meet your half-brother." 

- 

Kagome sat nervously as she waited for her parents to enter the room. Kikyou looked weepy upon seeing her, which was extremely unusual for the rather straight faced woman. Before she had more time to contemplate Kikyou's face, she'd ran away, and one of the random people who worked in their house ushered Kagome towards one of the random rooms. She recognized this one. Her father held business meetings here, when it was amongst friends. 

Her parents entered, her mother seemingly gliding on air and her father walking behind her, almost as if he didn't want to slow her down. 

"Kagome," her mother said softly, "I think it's time we do something about your desire to join the business." 

Her father nodded his agreement, and let his wife do the talking. 

"So, we're sending you to my father's house. You can finish up your last few essays there, mail them to us, and we'll send them in. I'm sure he can talk you out of it." 

"Let me get this straight," Kagome said, "I'm going to be sent to live with the man who taught you everything you know?" 

Sora shook her head, "No, my real father. He's agreed to take you in, and you'll be going there immediately. Kikyou is driving you. Pack some things." 

Kagome's mouth dropped as her parents left. Her mother's real father was perhaps was one of the best kept secrets of Sora Higurashi's life. As far as everyone else was concerned, the girl was raised by Kai Suzuki. The only people who knew her real father was her now deceased mother, her child and husband, and the man himself, though he had only found out a year or two before Kagome was born. 

As she headed to her room, she resisted the urge to scream. Kikyou appeared again, now looking more stable. 

"I'll help you pack," she said, taking Kagome's arm and leading her towards her room. 

They walked silently to her room, and Kagome collapsed onto her bed as Kikyou opened up her closet and began to pull out some of Kagome's favourite outfits. 

"They won't fit," she muttered under her breath, running her hands across her growing abdomen. 

"Why?" Kikyou asked. 

Kagome paused, unsure of what to tell Kikyou - or whether she would tell her anything at all. But the stress of the past few months of being pregnant and the recent events regarding Inu-Yasha, Kagome had to tell someone, and Kikyou was practically her mother. 

"I'm pregnant. Three months ago I slept with Inu-Yasha on the jungle gym. And then his father, who beat him, was murdered, but it turns out, that wasn't his father, and his real father is Touga Taisho, and this group called the Kitsunes are after him, and me, because I've been dating him, and now I have to run away with him to this safe place that they've gotten set up. So, I won't be able to fit in those clothes - I can't really fit in them now." 

She gasped for air, and Kikyou's eyes widened. She left the room, and Kagome feared she'd gone to tell her parents the truth. Then she almost broke into tears, thinking that Kikyou was ashamed of her. Before she could go further, maybe theorizing that Kikyou was calling someone from the Kitsunes, the nanny/cook emerged, carrying a pile of what she recognized to be her mother's clothing. 

"It's her maternity clothes," Kikyou answered, as she began folding them and putting them in one of Kagome's suitcases. 

Kagome immediately burst into tears, lunging forward and hugging Kikyou around the waist. Kikyou would probably chalk it up to the hormones, but lately Kagome had stopped feeling their effect. She was just overwhelmed, and Kikyou's help simply set her off. '_Outlets are good_,' Kagome thought to herself as Kikyou rubbed her hand across her back. 

"Come on darlin'," Kikyou said, giving a bit of her Southern accent, "let's get your stuff ready." 

- 

"He wasn't there." 

The rest of the "flunkies" cringed at the statement. _He_ didn't tolerate failure. 

No one ever failed twice. 

"I want you to find the girl. Bring her to me. This is our last chance to make Touga pay for what he did. Our final attempt should be big - we should really make him suffer." 

- 

Sesshomaru kept one eye on Inu-Yasha, who looked just as short on words as himself, and one eye on his girlfriend, who appeared as if she might explode from happiness. It wasn't that he wasn't excited, because he was, but he had no way of showing it. He almost wanted to hug Inu-Yasha, but he didn't know if it would be received well, and he feared that if he did, Rin may very well go into pieces. 

As it was, Rin hugged him first, and then hugged Sesshomaru, and began to tell the brothers and about each other, not giving them a chance to speak for themselves. They were grateful, however, because they weren't quite sure what to say themselves. 

"You two are a lot alike," Rin said happily, "I think you two may be too much alike. So, do you have any questions Inu-Yasha?" 

He looked down, and for a minute Sesshomaru thought he might start scuffing his sneaker against the pavement. Instead, he looked at his older brother, who in turn, braced himself for a question. 

"What's our father like?" 

Sesshomaru thought before answering. He didn't want to give the wrong impression of the man before Inu-Yasha got to meet him. 

"He's very much a businessman, but he's got a horrible sense of humor. He likes to tease a lot. Um...I actually don't see him very often outside of business. He's sort of a work-a-holic, ever since..." 

He trailed off, becoming uncomfortable with the topic. Inu-Yasha guessed the ending, and decided to change the topic. 

"I remember you," he said. 

"You do?" Sesshomaru asked, obviously surprised. 

"I didn't actually get to see you up close, or talk to you or anything, but you were in line ahead of me at the store, arguing with the checkout girl over the price of tampons." 

Rin began to chuckle, and began uncontrollable laughter as Sesshomaru's pale skin became extremely red.Kikyou ove her red Focus in and out of traffic, and rushed to a stop behind Inu-Yasha's own red Ford. She got out before Kagome, and pulled out her two suit cases from the truck. All eyes were on her car as she opened up the passenger door, letting Kagome out. 

The pregnant teen stood for a moment, and contemplated yelling out "IT'S A CASPIRACY!" just for nostalgic kicks, but decided against it in favor of appearing normal and not confusing everyone. 

"Um, Rin, Sesshomaru...this is my girlfriend Kagome." 

"Yeah..I'm pleased to meet you. Wow...you look a lot like Inu-Yasha!" 

Rin smirked, "I told you." 

"I never denied it," Sesshomaru muttered, not liking the way Rin was implying he was wrong in some way. 

Kagome looked down briefly, before taking a deep breath. Inu-Yasha tensed, knowing that was Kagome's sign that she was about to give some news - usually bad news. 

"I have bad news. My parents have ordered me to go to my grandfather's house. Well, no one knows he's my grandfather, but he is, and that means I can't go with Inu-Yasha." 

Inu-Yasha's face fell, but Rin, and even Sesshomaru, looked as if they may dance a jig. 

"You see, the place we had lined up for you..." she glanced over at Sesshomaru for help on how to phrase it without scaring the two teens very much. 

"It fell through," he offered. 

"Right! It fell through. So, if you and Inu-Yasha could go there, then you'd be safe. But um, what's this about no one knowing he's your grandfather? That could work out well." 

Kagome nodded, mostly relieved that her problem had turned into a solution. 

"There's no documentation of it, but my mother's real father is this guy who lives a little bit further up north from here, when it starts getting more country. My mother has only seen him a few times herself, and I've seen him once, in a photgraph, which my mother later burned. It's surprising she's sending me there, she really hates him." 

It was silent for a moment, save for Rin's excited squeals, until Kikyou spoke up. 

"Well then, should I put the suitcases back in the car or...?" 

Sesshomaru turned to Rin for the answer. She was definitely the one who was holding the most cards in the entire situation. He was well aware that she wasn't telling him all she knew yet, or all that she _planned_ to know. And Sesshomaru was quite sure that Rin wouldn't stop until she found out every aspect that she could. 

"Hmm..well, why don't you put her luggage in the front? Inu-Yasha, don't you have any bags?" 

Inu-Yasha brought out his duffle bag and nodded, which Rin took as a signal to continue. 

"Okay then! Kagome, Inu-Yasha, you two can sit in the back, and if you want to keep your duffle bag back there with you, I'm sure there's enough room at your feet. Sesshomaru and I can sit in the back seat, and Kagome's bags can go to the passenger seat." 

Everyone assumed their places, and Kagome and Inu-Yasha had a perfect view of everything they were leaving behind during the four hour drive to her grandfather's house. 

- 

Kagome was the first one out of the car, despite numerous attempts from all present to jump out. That was officially the most insane car drive that Kagome had ever been apart of, and that's including the time when her mother was driving, and went semi-insane and began chasing a man all the way up to the state border where she cornered him outside of his house. 

She glanced at the rest of her carmates, and realized just how hilarious their situation actually was. She rolled her eyes at the insanity, and headed for the front door, since everyone else seemed lost as to what to do. Before she had a chance to knock at the door, a large crashing sound was heard from inside the house, and a few seconds later, her grandfather appeared at the door. 

He didn't look too different from his picture, so Kagome recognized him right away. 

"Kagome! You're here! What took you so long?" he asked, staring at the three extra people he didn't expect to be there. 

"You don't want to know...but um, there is something you need to know," Kagome said nervously, not sure how she was supposed to tell her Grandfather - who she had just met for the first time - that he was going to have to take his pregnant grand daughter and her boyfriend in because they were hiding from a gang. 

Rin came up behind her with one of her bags, and placed a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. 

"Let's not discuss this outside...probably best if he's sitting down," she said, before turning to Kagome's grandfather. 

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Rin Takaishi. We're all going to explain everything as soon as we get these bags inside, okay?" 

Kagome watched her grandfather step aside for Rin, and she smiled as she studied her grandfather. There was a little bit of family resemblance, especially in the eyes. He seemed to have Kagome's easy going attitude as well. Sesshomaru and Kikyou came up with the rest of the bags, and Inu-Yasha followed, carrying his duffle. 

Once inside the house, all eyes were again on Rin as they stood in the foyer. She grinned at everyone; she really did love being the one who knew it all. 

"Well, here's the deal Mr...oh damn it all, I don't know your name." 

Well, maybe she didn't know _everything_.... 

"Ken," he answered, "Ken Shibata." 

"Mr. Shibata! This is Sesshomaru Taisho, and his younger brother, Inu-Yasha. Inu-Yasha and your grand daughter are dating." 

Kagome blushed, and avoided eye contact with her grandfather, who was nodding sagely. 

"Well, he's going to be moving in as well. Now, do you mind if I talk to you while they move their things into the room they'll be staying in?" 

The man laughed, as did Inu-Yasha and Sesshomaru at Rin's lack of room for discussion, but it was really more of a cough, as he said, "Well, about that...the room that I planned on putting her in was the master bedroom upstairs. It's filled with boxes and such however, and I was going to just put her in one of the other four bedrooms. Except for another bedroom, they're all extremely small. However, with Inu-Yasha joining us, and Kagome expecting, it would be pretty crowded in there." 

"You know she's pregnant?" asked Inu-Yasha, who was only noticing now that he'd been told. 

Kagome laughed at the look her grandfather sent to her boyfriend. His face held the "Well, _duh_." expression that she herself often sent others. Sesshomaru and Kikyou, who had both been keeping a low profile since they got in the house, were discretely rolling their eyes at Inu-Yasha's rather obvious question. 

"Well you guys," Rin said, "are you up for cleaning out the room?" 

"What?" asked Sesshomaru and Kikyou at the same time. 

"You're helping Kagome and Inu-Yasha," Rin informed them, giving Sesshomaru a push towards his brother, "I mean, we established earlier that you don't talk much, but you really should get to know your Sesshomaru. You're both way too stubborn. Kagome, if you don't start talking when they get up there, kick someone's ass, okay?" 

Kagome nodded enthusiastically and headed for the stairs. 

"Is someone going to tell me where I'm going?" she asked as she was halfway up, "or am I going to have to just march into all of the rooms up here?" 

"Double doors to the right!" her grandfather called as the rest of their group, aside from Rin, followed her up. 

Kagome spotted the doors soon enough - they were open and she couldn't even see in the room for some boxes that were stacked up in front of the door - a few of which ad fallen over. 

"If those boxes go all the way back," Kagome said, "I think you should know you'll be doing most of the work." 

As they moved the boxes aside, they found that for the most part, the room wasn't so bad. It just needed a giant duster and and some more boxes scattered around the room cleared out. The master bedroom however, was huge. It was more of a master suite, complete with a sitting area, sun room, and a giant closet and bathroom. They split up - Kagome moved boxes to the back of the closet, Kikyou got some cleaning products to do the bathroom, and for Sesshomaru and Inu-Yasha to clean with. The sun room was empty for the most part, and they mutually agreed to leave it alone. 

Kagome nearly fainted as she entered the walk in closet with the first box. It had _shelves_. She wasn't one of those girls who owned a different pair of shoes for each day of the year (and spares, just in case), but she did have several purses. '_Depending on how long I stay here, I might fill it up,_' she thought happily, as she went out for another box. 

- 

Rin sat with Kagome's grandfather, having what she called "open conversation", one of her best tactics for getting information. Essentially, it was having two conversations at once, doing what you needed to do to get them to say what you needed to know. 

In this case, it was mostly for time issues - she didn't want to stay in the same place for too long, and she was curious about whether or not Ken had managed to completely cover up Sora Higurashi's paternal lineage. She wanted to make sure there was no way anyone would be able to track Kagome there, and her plan worked well. 

"Well," she said, "I guess you really had it airtight then, hmm? Kagome and Inu-Yasha should be safe here...I'm really glad you're willing to take them both in." 

"It _is_ a six bedroom house, so it gets kind of lonely in here," he said, pausing when a loud noise came from upstairs, where the cleaning crew was working directly above them, "I wouldn't say empty though...How long do you think they'll be here? Should we worry about Kagome's prenatal care?" 

"Well, I'm hoping she won't have to be here long. We're ending our problem as quickly as possible, so it won't have to be an issue. But should it become an issue, there's really not much Kagome can't do for herself. Can you make sure she has a healthy diet?" 

He chuckled, "I'm a chef. I can promise good food, but I can't promise it'll be healthy." 

"Well, that will do," Rin said, grinning, "I did some research on you in the car. You don't know how hard it is to discretely look someone up on a cell phone while surrounded by four people who hang on your every word...but, I'm glad to report that I couldn't dig much up on you, but I did find out you have a very cheap dsl bill. I'm wondering if you can hook me up on that...but, also, I have a list of sites that I think Kagome should visit about this. And, maybe you should encourage Inu-Yasha to talk about his mother's experience." 

"Okay..." the man said, reaching for the list that Rin sat on the table. 

"Don't worry about things," Rin said, "I'm sure things will turn out great. I've handled situations like this before, and it's kind of personal now. I've got too much of an investment in this to let anything go wrong...now let's go keep ourselves busy. I don't feel like cleaning out a room... 

- 

Kikyou rolled down the window and looked Kagome in the eye, "Keep yourself safe kid, okay? I'll find a way to check up on you." 

Kagome nodded, and glanced over at Inu-Yasha, who stood on the porch, having already said goodbye to his brother ("Uh...bye." "Yes. Goodbye."). 

Inu-Yasha watched as his girlfriend waved off Kikyou's Focus, and let out a deep breath. '_I just want to lay down and never have to get up again,_' he thought, the recent events catching up to him again, mixed with the fatigue of what turned out to be a much harder job cleaning up their room than he'd thought. He led Kagome back up the stairs and collapsed in bed. 

**A/N**: Okay, first of all, I'm SO sorry this took so long to get out. I tried to make up for it by typing the longest chapter I have _ever_ written, but I know that doesn't even begin to cover my taking so long to get you guys the next chapter. 

I won't even go into all that's happened, because that doesn't matter - I am here now! I actually rushed this one out (well, I mean, after I was close to finishing...) in honor of the Inu-Yasha anime ending on September 13th. I said it on my lj, and I'll say it again; they had BETTER not pull another damned Furuba. We need to be clear on who the main characters end up with, just in case there are morons who don't read the manga who will proclaim that Yuki and Tohru ended up together - er...I mean...Sango and Inu-Yasha? 

So, now would be a good time to address a few things about this story. A lot of stuff here is personal - Kagome's going to a park to escape, meeting a cute guy there (though, unfortunately, I haven't seen my guy in years. I miss you Ken), Rin's "open conversation" is something I do, but mainly so I can talk about what I want to and not impose on someone else, Inu-Yasha working at an autoshop named Stewie's (my family owns one; Stewart's. XD) Kagome's love of purses, Kikyou's red Focus, even Kagome's birthing choices (which, like my own, started one way and will change to another). However, the primary focus of this story isn't the things that I put in there that reflect my own life - therefore, as I've mentioned, this is **not** a Pregnancy fic. My whole life, I've wanted children more than _anything_, so don't get me wrong, it's nothing against that - that's just not what this story is about. I do have **several** fics where Kagome is pregnant that are currently in the works, but I also have several that are not. Some focus on the pregnancy, most don't. 

But this one doesn't.. 

Now...Reviewer Response Time! 

_Lovie_: :O You're the girl who stole my name! WHORE. D Make it up to me later... 

_Newfie/B.C Girl_: Isn't Ai Inu Koi awesome? I'm so happy you have such nice things to say about my story! I know there's a lot I need to work on, but I'm determined to finish this one, and I want to make it good. 

_kokoro_: Eee! I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long, I hope you're okay! 

_Em Starcatcher_: A whole _year_ without Haunting updates. I think you're trying to kill me! ;; 

_Captured Moon_: Ah, Rin and her talents...All I can say is, that's for us to know and you to wonder about. Kagome's parents were actually supposed to play a whole different role in the story earlier, but I changed the plot half way through, so there's still a few loose ends I'm trying to tie up all over the place. So I'm trying to keep them out of the way for now. XD; 

_Samantha-1434_: Yay! That was the intent of the chapter. XD I tell people all the time; I'm usually being confusing on purpose, but I always tie it all up. 

_sashela_: You think you're being tortured? XD The two Media Miner readers I haev haven't even gotten Rin's Letter. 

_Ai Inu Koi_: Would you believe it? I got SICK! I was at A-kon for an hour, two at the most. How horrible is that? 

_Fiery Demon Fox_: Don't worry! I'm finishing this story, even if it kills me! 

_Mini Nicka_: XD Don't say that; I can go shorter - I _have_ gone shorter. 

_Garfunkelzsnugglebunny_: I hope you liked this one then! 

_RiceBallsandGreenTea_: Pretty much! Only one thing slightly wrong; Touga was told they'd both died, but that's not really a biggy. You're right on! 

_Vashies-Girl_: A little weird works. 

_Chibi-Kerochan_: I'm sorry it took me so long! 

_elf-princess4_: As you wish! ::bows:: 

_Angel81_: Thank you! 

_icenekohanyou_: XD I think you've perfectly described this story! Can I use it? 

_Illmantrim_: Hey you! XD 

_gothic inuyasha_: And you thought _that_ was a long wait...there are still people in other fandoms who don't know I've abandoned my old account and are waiting for some updates there...::guilty cough:: 

_DemonKitty_: Do As Infinity sang Fukai Mori and Shinjitsu no Uta. And you guessed it right! 

_firefaerykilala_: XD ::cling:: 

_Pique_: That's seriously the best review I have ever gotten! You made my day with that one - and I kinda stole your humpa humpa. XD 

_SesshoumaruGal_: Oh wow, thank you! That's so nice! I hope I continue to live up to your expectations! 

_Happy Youkai_: Is it just me, or has it stopped being updated? I'm so depressed, it's the only one I've been reading lately! 

_morgannia_: XD Where are they? Be more specific, I don't know how to answer that. XD 

_gothicinugirl_: You described it pretty well too! I really liked your review, it made me so happy! I'm so glad you like it. :D _Lum-Chan_: A) I LOVE your name! XD B) I didn't stop updating, I just kinda...delayed! XD 

_Belldandychan_: Why thank you! You reviewed the chapter before last, and it was a great review as well! Thank you so much for your praise! I hardly feel worth it! ; 

_Salami Queen_: Yes, I do have a problem with the plot flowing...I changed it in the middle and I've been kind of off since then, so I'm trying to get things back together. 

_Inu-babe-24/7_: I'm sorry I made you wait so long! 

_inuyashasgirl4life_: XD Another great description of the story. 

_Serenity's Angel In Heaven_: And finish it I will! I'm sorry about earlier on MSN! I was just about to tell you I remembered you, and you disappeared! I hope I'll catch you again though! 

_Singed Soul_: Eee! Yes, yes, I'm so sorry I took so long! 

_Tora pawz_: Thank you! I'm glad you like it! 

_BloodyGothic_: Attention grabber? Thank you! 

_Paper Stars_: Continuing, continuing! XD 

_Blueice anime gurl_: Rin is the one holding all the cards here...for now. In card games you're always being dealt a new hand after all. I don't mind when Inu-Yasha calls Kagome a wench, but he doesn't have a reason to here, so he doesn't. :D


	8. The Final Copout

Kagome and Inu-Yasha managed to stay at Kagome's grandfather's for the entire time, except on visits to see Inu-Yasha's father. He made the mistake of calling her a slut once, but he doesn't do that anymore since she bitch slapped him.  
  
Sango got kidnapped, because the morons thought she was Kagome.  
  
She wasn't. She lost the baby she was carrying.  
  
Oh, by the way, she happened to get knocked up too.  
  
Safe sex kids. It's a good thing.  
  
In the end, Sesshomaru killed Shippo, the mastermind behind it all.  
  
And they all lived happily ever after.  
  
-  
  
Uh. Yeah.  
  
I kind of had it when I was told that my extra special bonus guest chapter was going to be delayed another MONTH because the girl couldn't give it to me on time, and then she got grounded. That's why I have trust issues. Especially with Geminis.  
  
If you're a Gemini, I hate you right now.  
  
It's not fair, but that's life.  
  
When I promised myself that I would finish this fic, I wasn't aware of four things.  
  
1) That all of the ideas and the essential plot for this story would change dramatically.  
  
2) That it would become my most popular story.  
  
3) That I would lose all interest in the Inu-Yasha fandom COMPLETELY, half way through writing the third chapter.  
  
4) That I would come to completely and utterly loathe this story.  
  
I've been having some extremely stressful times lately, and that doesn't really help. Long stories, I'm not going into it here, that's what my livejournal is for. Well, not quite, because I feel bad bitching there too, but still.  
  
This story, if you haven't guessed, probably isn't going to be completed.  
  
I feel horrible. But I HATE this story. I hate everything about it, and I think it's actually one of the worst I've ever written, and that includes the first one I ever uploaded, which at the time, was one giant block of text. Only, it wasn't giant, because it couldn't have been more than three hundred words. Mostly mispelled.  
  
That beats this.  
  
I tried so hard. But I couldn't do it. I didn't hate this story the same way I hated Sula half way through, and had to put it down so I could breathe.  
  
I didn't hate this story the way I've hated this other story idea, that goes on and off my to-do list, as it has done for four years.  
  
I hated this story the way I hate Maiden of the Moon's stories, and frankly, that's saying something.  
  
I can't promise I'll finish the next story I write, but I'm going to try and promise that the next one is better than this. And possibly not in the Inu-Yasha fandom, if I can help it, as I truly...truly...have absolutely no interest left in that series.  
  
Gah.  
  
But I love all of you, and like I said, I'm so sorry for doing this. Feel free to flame, email, IM, bitch, and moan. I deserve it. 


End file.
